Hubble captures aftermath of asteroid collision

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This video, based on a series of observations made by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, clearly shows the slow evolution of the debris coming from asteroid P/2010 A2. When astronomers first spotted the unusual X shape, they assumed that they were observing the immediate aftermath of an impact. However, the slower than anticipated rate of change in the appearance of the debris suggests that the collision in fact took place a year earlier.